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A home on Cannel Drive is fully engulfed Friday during a standoff with RCMP.

Photograph by: Keith Anderson/Murray Mitchell
, Kamloops Daily News

KAMLOOPS — With explosives strapped to his chest, a Surrey man burst into the Kamloops home of his ex-girlfriend on Thursday evening and told her boyfriend and four children to get out of the house, police said Friday.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Grant Learned said investigators are now sifting through the rubble for the body of the 48-year-old electrician, presumed dead after a nearly seven-hour standoff with police in Kamloops ended with an explosion and the house burning down.

The woman was finally released around midnight unharmed.

The bizarre incident began at 5:20 p.m. Thursday afternoon when an armed man burst into the home, taking his 44-year-old ex-girlfriend hostage, said Learned.

The woman's boyfriend escaped with three of the woman's children, while a fourth child climbed through a window to safety. The woman has two boys, aged 11 and nine and two girls, aged 13 and eight years old.

Learned says shortly after entering the house, the suspect fired a shot into the ceiling and told everyone but the woman to leave the house.

Negotiators talked to the suspect until he freed his hostage at about midnight and, just minutes later, flames broke out as two large, rapid explosions shook the home.

During the negotiation, police learned that the man was still distraught about breaking up with his girlfriend two years ago. He also told police he had explosives strapped to his body and in the house. He said that an explosive device was wired to the gas tank of his vehicle and that there was a second bomb in the car.

Police said the man told them he could detonate the bomb from a remote device.

Police evacuated the neighbourhood after finding explosives in the suspect's car, and firefighters also stayed out until the risk of further blasts had passed, and no one had emerged from the house.

Once the scene was secure, bomb squad officers used a robot to safely disarm the explosive device in the vehicle. Investigators said if the device had detonated there would have been fatalities in the surrounding area.

Neighbours and friends say the family whose home was blown up were new to the Dufferin neighbourhood.

Friend Virginia Rogers said the Kamloops woman and her four children – she would not disclose her name – had just moved to the 1400-block of Cannel Drive in the past couple of months from Barnhartvale, a sprawling rural community of about 1,500 people just east of Kamloops.

As she had only recently met the woman through a mutual friend, Rogers said she did not know the history of the woman’s relationship with her estranged boyfriend.

“She’s very sweet. The kids are awesome. They like to play and have fun. They are regular people,” said Rogers.

“I know they are safe,” added Rogers, who was reluctant to reveal more information about her friend until she had talked to her.

Rogers has started a donation drive on behalf of her friend, attempting to collect some clothing, toiletries and perhaps some toys for the children.

“Obviously with the house fire, they don’t have much left,” noted Rogers.

She said anyone wishing to donate items can call her at 778-220-2530.

Several Cannel Drive neighbours told The Sun they did not know the mom well, who appeared to keep to herself and keep a careful eye on her children.

Kim Bartlett said the children played with her son in the cul-de-sac, but that the mom kept to herself.

“She didn’t say very much,” said Bartlett, adding she had not known there were four children at the home.

Police are still on scene and have begun sifting through the rubble in search of the suspect's remains.